Vegan Gluten-Free Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

In anticipation of a back-to-school party, I decided to try my first made-from-scratch gluten free cookies (I usually just bake for others and have always been intimidated by the thought of gluten free baking). To top it off, I even made it vegan for a friend of mine who would be attending the party! The only dairy in this gluten free recipe calls for 1 egg, and 1 stick of butter. I used 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce per 1 egg as a substitute, and Earth Balance vegan butter. I also subbed dried cranberries instead of the walnuts.

Verdict?

Amazingly moist and chewy!  A bit on the sweet side, so I may decrease the sugar next time if adding dried fruit, or forgo the fruit and use nuts instead. It helped to squeeze each teaspoonful of dough together before flattening slightly on the cookie sheet. Also, unlike regular cookies, these don't really spread out while baking. This plateful was the result of doubling the recipe to make 2 batches:

This is the recipe I followed from the back of a bag of "Let's Do...Organic" Coconut Flour:

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp brown rice flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
8 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 
2. Blend together butter and sugars until fluffy and well mixed.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, mix flours and baking soda.
5. Add dry mix to wet mix and blend until smooth.
6. Stir in chocolate chips/nuts/dried fruit.
7. Drop by teaspoonful onto pre-greased cookie sheets.
8. Bake 8-12 min, or until brown around edges. 
9. Remove from oven, and allow to cool for at least 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

Metropolis Baking Company - Sour Rye

Mmmmmm.....delicious, and the combination of artisanal, sour, and rye made this a particularly ting-friendly bread. Yum!

Another fabulous-looking recipe from Mrs. L, courtesy of www.livingwithout.com

As always, be mindful that gluten free isn't necessarily fat-free! Substitute a vegan butter such as Earth Balance to make this lactose-free as well.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Turnovers

MAKES 8

Flaky crust holds a delicious mouthful of blueberries. This fruity dessert delivers 5 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein as it satisfies your sweet tooth. Turnovers are portable and a kid favorite. Double the recipe and keep spares on hand for your child's lunch box or after-school snack.

Pastry

2¼ cups gluten-free high-protein flour blend
    of choice
½ cup sugar or granulated (dry) sugar substitute*
     of choice
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum
½ cup (1 stick) butter or palm oil
5 tablespoon cold water
3 tablespoon vegetable oil, palm oil or butter
1. Measure flour blend, sugar, salt and guar gum into a bowl.
2. Cut butter into dry ingredients with a pastry blender or pinch with fingers until blended.
3. Add cold water and oil. Knead dough by folding it over and over until thoroughly mixed.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and roll into a 12-inch long log. Refrigerate until ready to roll.

Filling

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (or 3 cups cooked fruit)
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar or granulated (dry) sugar substitute* of choice
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons arrowroot starch
2 tablespoons cold water
¼ cup coconut flour or gluten-free flour of choice
1. Combine berries, butter and sugar in a saucepan. On medium-low heat, mix gently until a liquid forms at the bottom of the pan. When berries are floating in their own juice, add salt and lemon juice. Mix gently again.
2. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons arrowroot with 2 tablespoons cold water. Pour into blueberry mixture and continue to cook over low heat until juice thickens.
3. Add coconut flour and stir until blended.
4. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Filling will be quite thick.
5. Preheat oven to 425° F.
6. Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut or pinch off into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. (Flour your hands, if necessary.)
7. Cut 8 pieces of parchment paper into 7½-inch squares. Cut 1 additional 7½-inch square to use as top rolling paper.
8. Roll each piece of dough out onto an individual piece of paper using one piece on top. Peel off top paper and place 1 tablespoon blueberry mixture on each piece of flattened dough. (Keep flattened dough on bottom paper.)
9. Slide your hand under one half of each paper and fold dough over, making a half circle of dough with filling inside. Pinch edges to seal and prick a couple times with a fork.
10. Leave filled dough on the paper and transfer each onto a baking sheet, placing evenly on sheet. Trim excess paper if crowded.
11. Place on middle rack in preheated oven and bake 12 to 15 minutes or until top turns golden brown. Check after 10 minutes. If tops start to brown too much, cover with foil and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Each turnover contains 445 calories, 20g total fat, 12g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 38mg cholesterol, 187mg sodium, 66g total carbohydrate, 5g fiber, 3g protein.

TIP Do not roll out dough thinner than ⅛ inch. If dough is too thin, the crust will burst as it bakes.
*For better results when using sugar substitute, use half sugar and half substitute sugar; cook over a double boiler or pan of water until mixture thickens.
Recipe by Living Without’s test kitchen director Madalene Rhyand.

Wicked Spoon - Las Vegas, NV

The Wicked Spoon Buffet 

(inside the Cosmopolitan on The Strip)

The small plate style of many of the food options made the buffet less trough-like, and although we caught the tail end of brunch, everything was still fresh and hot. I avoided the token asian dishes (lo mein, fried rice, kung pao chicken), and focused on the real food - boiled egg with avocado and bacon vinaigrette, sashimi, lamb chops, steamed clams.....i could go on, but basically this was the classiest buffet I'd seen. Like most buffets, plenty of items had lactose and/or gluten, but there were a surprising number of lactose and gluten free options as well. Goat cheese was readily available at the omelet bar, and the eggs were milk-free (always ask!). There were actually so many things I could eat, I didn't miss out on what I couldn't.

The desserts were my favorite - there were actually lactose/gluten free options!  I had a choice of several sorbets, house-made marshmallows served in a dark chocolate cone, and dark chocolate dipped strawberries with nuts or toffee topping. In comparison, my dessert selection at the Wynn buffet was confined to one thing: candied apples.

Great service (we never felt rushed out), and nice spacious table set ups in addition to the non-buffet like food really made this a great dining experience.

Blue Cheese and Broccoli

Due to recently finding goat (lactose free) blue cheese at my local supermarket, I've been riding this incredible wave of satiation. My go-to veggie has been a crown of sauteed broccoli with blue cheese crumbles. You don't need to use a lot of blue cheese, and it packs a lot of flavor, which means it requires minimum addition of fat for maximum flavor. No need to add additional salt to the broccoli either, since blue cheese is plenty salty!

Scallion Oil

Chinese Scallion Oil

2 bunches of scallions, finely chopped

fresh garlic, minced

salt

chicken bouillon powder

pinch of sugar

vegetable or corn oil

1. Wash and dry the scallions before chopping. Place in a large heat-tolerant bowl.
2. To the bowl, add all the other ingredients except for the oil. Use approximately 1:1 ratio salt and bouillon powder, and only a minimal pinch of sugar. Adjust everything to taste
3. In a small pot, heat enough oil to cover the scallions in a drizzle. Heat until an onion piece sizzles and floats immediately when dropped in.
4. Before the oil smokes, carefully pour just enough oil over the onions so the heat of the oil immediately "cooks" the scallions in the bowl. Mix to incorporate. 

After cooling, the scallion oil will keep for at least a week in an uncontaminated container. I love having this topping over steamed chicken, noodles of any type (noodle soup or stir-fried), rice, and fresh shrimp.

Blue cheese stuffed olives

A recent discovery of goat blue cheese at my local supermarket inspired me to stuff my own olives in preparation for an upcoming martini party. This was always one of my favorite martini garnishes back in the lush days when I could eat them, and now I can again!

To make:

I prefer medium to large sized green olives for stuffing; choose firm, fresh ones preferably from an olive bar, not a jar.  The blue cheese crumbles naturally, but if you let it sit at room temp until the chill goes out, it softens up nicely and will conform well for stuffing.  To stuff, just use a butter knife and shove those crumbs in! Make sure to put enough cheese in for a satiating olive pop. 

Sun in Bloom

Vegan and gluten-free pancakes

And if you're feeling the sass, this eatery near the Atlantic-Pacific Ave station in Brooklyn, NY also serves raw foods. Given the convenient location, 52 and counting business photos on Yelp, and only 2 $$s, this place will be a must-stop on my next trip to nyc. 

In the meantime, please someone go there and eat for me!  

Sun in Bloom